Princeton University Baldwin Lecture, 2010

Eddie Glaude, the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and chair of Princeton's Center for African American Studies, praised Tilghman for her strong, sustained support of the center and for her willingness to speak out about the challenges of race.

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Brian Wilson

Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman, a world-renowned molecular biologist, took on the complex topic of modern genetics and race Tuesday, March 9, in the annual James Baldwin Lecture sponsored by Princeton's Center for African American Studies. In a speech titled "The Meaning of Race in the Post-Genome Era," she also traced science's past failures to grapple in a nondiscriminatory manner with racial classifications. "Only by spreading conversations about race throughout the entire University can we be sure that every student who passes through our gates will encounter and grapple with one of the most vexing issues facing this country, and indeed the rest of the world," she said.

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Brian Wilson

Members of the University community gathered in Richardson Auditorium to hear Tilghman describe some of the more nuanced findings of current genetic inquiry.

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Henry Vega

Tilghman said she and Cornel West (above), the Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies, have agreed about the need to create an environment at Princeton where students can "imagine themselves in someone else's skin."

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Brian Wilson

Keith Wailoo, a distinguished visiting professor in Princeton's Center for African American Studies, was one of the audience members who questioned Tilghman on a host of issues regarding race, prompting her to note that much of current scientific findings reflect a "tension between similarity and difference." Though there are small, and sometimes significant, differences among all humans, the genetic material or genomes of any two people are 99.9 percent identical, she said.

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications,Brian Wilson

At the close of her lecture, several Princeton students asked questions of Tilghman, prompting remarks on the importance of diversity, the need to create more courses in areas such as African American or Latin American studies to draw in students and the U.S. Census.

photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications,Brian Wilson

Howard Taylor, a professor emeritus of sociology who guided Princeton's Program in African American Studies during its early years (at center), commended Tilghman for the content of her presentation as well as her willingness to tackle the controversial subject. "I thought the speech was extremely valuable," Taylor said.